Activate Your Parasympathetic Nervous System to Decrease Anxiety

When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, it produces a calm and relaxed feeling in the mind and body. People can learn to trigger their parasympathetic nervous system to immediately reduce their sense of anxiety and stress. This also lifts their mood, strengthens their immune system, and reduces their blood pressure.

There are many techniques that a person can use to strengthen and activate their parasympathetic nervous system, causing a relaxation response in their body. For example:

• Spend time in nature

• Get a massage

• Practice meditation

• Take 6 or more deep breathes from your diaphragm

• Repetitive prayer 

• Focus on a word that is soothing such as calm or peace (a mantra)

• Play with animals or children

• Practice yoga ( It also cultivates your ability to decrease the fight or flight response when you are exposed to a stress trigger.

• Exercise

• Do something you enjoy, like a favorite hobby
  

• Gently Touch Your Lips
  Your lips have parasympathetic fibers spread throughout them, so touching them activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Take one or two fingers and lightly run them over your lips.

• Be Mindful – Don’t Multitask
  Try not to multitask and be mindful of what you are doing. When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think.

• Use visualization and imagery to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. Picture yourself in a peaceful place that you love. It could be the ocean at sunset, a mountain stream, a beautiful lush forest, a secluded beach, a field of wildflowers, or any place you enjoy and feel relaxed. Use all your senses as you visualize the place in this imagery. Hear the sounds of the waves, feel the breeze on your face, and smell the scent of the flowers. You’ll feel relaxed in no time at all.